Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi) is a genre of fiction
that delves into the idea of futuristic concepts such as futuristic science and
technology, space and time travel, the ability of moving faster than the speed
of light, visiting alternate and parallel universes as well as extra-terrestrial
life and new, undiscovered planets.
- The first ever Sci-Fi film was a 1902 silent French film called le Voyage dans la Lune(translates to A Trip to the Moon) which was produced, written and directed by Georges Méliès. Released on 1st September 1902, The film was a pronounced success in France running uninterrupted at the Olympia music hall in Paris for several months and was met with especially large enthusiasm in the United States.
- With the development of sound in the early 30's this pated the way for more science fiction films to be produced, adding a new layer to the films with classics such as Things to come, Frankenstein, The Invisible Man and King Kong. Even those these films were state of the art adding a new layer with the inclusion of sound and being a huge hit with cinema audiences, the Sci-Fi genre wouldn't really take off until the early 1950's
- Along came the 1950’s, The Sci-Fi genre carried on with hit films such as; The Creature from the Black Lagoon, 20,000 Leagues under the Sea and the ultimate monster movie of all time, produced by Toho Studies in 1954, was Godzilla (Godzilla: King of the Monsters upon its 1956 release in America). As well as these films, we were also introduced into what are now many well-known strong stereotypes that would be associated with Sci-Fi films for years to come, such as Unidentified Flying Saucers (UFO's), Aliens and Space. The reason for such a rise in Extra Terrestrial use within Sci-Fi films is because of all the alleged sightings around the world, with the most famous being the Roswell UFO incident in 1947 near Roswell, New Mexico. In 1951 20th Century Fox released The Day the Earth Stood Still, this was one of the very first films to feature the Sci-Fi genre stereotypes of Aliens, UFO and Space which proved a huge success with cinema audiences.
- Into the 1960’s and Sci-Fi was beginning to become more and more popular in the public domain, proving a hit with TV audiences with programs such as; Star Trek: The Original Series, Lost in Space and the Smash Hit BBC One Sci-Fi show Doctor Who. Sci-Fi was also proving very popular with cinema audiences with such films as The Planet of the Apes, The Time Machine and 2001: A Space Odyssey. All these films and TV shows pated the way for the Golden Age of Sci-Fi heading into the 1970's.
- The 1970's or more commonly know as the Golden Age of Sci-Fi with TV shows being turned into feature films such as Star Trek: The Original Series now continuing as Star Trek: The Motion Picture and its film franchise continuing for several more films, during the 70's the game changed and the films from this period conveys that. In 1977 George Lucas of LucasFilms Ltd. and 20th Century Fox released Star Wars (Later entitled Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope) winning six competitive Academy Awards for Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, Best Sound and Best Visual Effects, it also one two British Academy Film Awards and nine Saturn Awards. This was seen as one of the first major blockbusters of film history leading on to become a very popular film franchise spanning to many spin off TV shows, Films and three sets of Trilogies, The Prequel Trilogy (1999 - 2005), The Original Trilogy (1977 - 1983) and The Sequel Trilogy (2015 - 2019). Star Wars revolutionized the Sci-Fi genre with its state of the art Special Effects, Sets, Models, Score as well as visionary direction and inventive storyline, with the success of Star Wars it helped bring the Sci-Fi genre to more mainstream and wider audiences instead of being restricted to just a limited audience. Over the years Sci-Fi has been mixed with different genres and elements such as Comedy and Romance but never really defined as a separate genre or sub-genre until Ridley Scott's 1979 classic, Alien which was distributed as a Sci-Fi Horror upon its original release, creating a whole new genre (or sub-genre as its more technically know as) allowing a wider range of films to be produced branching off into various different genres.
- Sci-Fi was still going strong into the 80's with LucasFilms Ltd. and 20th Century Fox producing another two Star Wars films, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi (Again later being entitled Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi) becoming a well know name and brand within homes, cinemas and stores throughout the world and proving very popular with audiences all around the world. Many famous Sci-Fi films were released throughout the 80's such as; the first two instalments into the Back to the Future Trilogy, four new instalments into the Star Trek Film Franchise as well as cult classics like Ghostbusters, Ghostbuster II and Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. In 1982, Steven Spielberg directed the most successful film of the decade, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial winning four Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards and five Saturn Awards. E.T is know for revolutionizing the Sci-Fi genre with its effects, storyline but also the twist of that not all Aliens are evil, mutations bent on world domination creating the first film where the audiences sided with the Alien and felt sympathy for them therefor having the Alien as a relatable character. Another film that revolutionised not only the Sci-Fi genre but also the Film Industry as a whole was Tron, released in 1982 and directed by Steven Lisberger, this saw a huge game changer for the Film Production Industry as Tron utilised the use of CGI with 80% of film being composed of CGI with live action elements being incorporated into the CGI footage, This showed the capacity of CGI and the role it could play within the improvements of films and the Film Industry.
- With the arrival of the 90's the Sci-Fi industry grew bigger and bigger proving more and more popular with cinema audiences. With the utilisation of CGI in the 80's and the advancements of the technology into the 90's this pated the way for bigger and better blockbusters such as Armageddon, The Matrix and the 1998 American Remake of Godzilla. In 1993 Steven Spielberg directed the biggest film of the 90's and the first instalment into the Jurassic Park franchise which was an instant success with cinema audiences thanks to the outstanding CGI recreation of Prehistoric Dinosaurs with the ground-breaking CGI provided by Industrial Light & Magic (Originally formed by George Lucas for the production of Star Wars) Jurassic Park won three Academy Wards, four Saturn Awards and a BAFTA Award for its ground-breaking CGI and special effects.
- The Sci-Fi genre continued into the 2000's with most Sic-Fi films becoming CGI orientated with films such as The War of the Worlds, the Planet of the Apes remake and the highest grossing film of all time (NOT JUSTED FOR INFLATION), Avatar, which is another classic by Steven Spielberg but also another revolutionising film due to its visionary direction and outstanding special effects and CGI. The final Star Wars films of the Prequel Trilogy entitled Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith were released in 2002 and 2005 respectively, with the end of the Prequel Trilogy, the main Sci-Fi genre began slowed down as films began branching out into different Sub-genres such as Sci-Fi Fantasy and Sci-Fi Adventure but was not completely dead as the revival of the Star Trek: Motion Picture Series in 2009 with Star Trek saw a large increase in Sci-Fi popularity with mainstream audiences with two sequel films being released, Star Trek: Into Darkness in 2013 and Star Trek: Beyond in 2016 with a fourth film being announced. In 2014 Legendary pictures brought back the giant Sci-Fi monster movie genre with its first instalment into Legendary's Godzilla Franchise in the form of a brand new, American Godzilla with a sequel film entitled Godzilla: King of Monsters in 2019 as well as another reboot of the King Kong Franchise entitled KONG: Skull Island for release in 2017 with both films acting as prequels to the shared cinematic franchise with a final film entitled Godzilla VS. KONG for release in 2020, we also saw a revival of the Ghostbusters franchise which came in the form of a reboot film directed by Paul Feig entitled Ghostbusters: Answer the Call which was released in 2016. As well as Star Trek and Ghostbusters we also saw a new instalment into one of the biggest franchises around, Star Wars, with Disney having acquired the rights from LucasFilms Ltd. 2015 saw the first film in the Sequel Trilogy entitled Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens directed by J.J Abrams with another two films, Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi and Star Wars: Episode IX slated for release in 2017 and 2019 respectively.
Sci-Fi continues to become increasingly popular with cinema audiences thanks to the advancements in technologies such as CGI which helps create more realistic worlds and settings for the films to take place, keeping the audiences hooked throughout.
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| Star Wars (1997) - Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi (2017) - Godzilla (1954) - KONG: Skull Island (2017) - Tron (1982) - le Voyage dans la Lune (1902) |
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